


Madness

by GingerItt



Series: Roomies [6]
Category: Glee
Genre: Multi, Racism, References to Drug Use, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-02
Updated: 2013-06-04
Packaged: 2017-12-13 17:18:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/826818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GingerItt/pseuds/GingerItt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When NYADA announces plans for a summer musical, things get really tense between the roomies and one of the residents of the loft.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

When school started back up after spring break, the NYADA faculty announced that there was going to be a to-be-decided summer musical added to the schedule. It was unprecedented but due to the positive response the fall and winter musicals received from people in the industry, none of the students were complaining about another chance to exhibit their talent.

Three weeks before the end of the spring semester the administration announced that the musical was going to be Reefer Madness. Tina and Blaine whooped and hollered for a good while before immediately diving into their songbooks in search of the perfect audition song. Kurt, who had already committed to working full time at vogue.com for the summer, gave advice and suggestions though he did pout a bit.

Rachel was pissed and took the musical selection as a personal affront to her artistic sensibilities.

Cinco de Mayo finds all of them in the larger apartment, half drunk on Santana’s margaritas and gorging on guacamole and salsa. Even Artie has come out to Bushwick for the day and he and Sam entertain themselves with the video game system.

"I don't understand why they'd pick a show that is all flash and flair with no true message," she says as Tina flips through a book of songs from the fifties and Blaine and Kurt lean over a laptop. They are all spread out over the living room, sheet music and CDs scattered over every surface.

"Rach, the message of Reefer Madness is that we shouldn't blindly trust what the government and media tell us," Blaine explains, rolling away from the laptop and laying on his stomach. Kurt straddles his hips and began to knead at the knots in his back.

"And, Berry, Grease is one of your favorite musicals and the message of that is 'change so boys will like you'," Santana says from the kitchen. They hear Mercedes chuckle and Tina has to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

Rachel rolls her eyes and picks up her iPad to begin her search but she keeps sighing in frustration. “I mean, obviously I’m going for Mary. It’s the soprano part and, as the resident ingenue, I’d be a sure thing.”

Tina rolls her eyes in return, but keeps her mouth shut. Her patience is wearing thin, though. Rachel had been insufferable when she had been cast in the winter musical, even though she just had a featured part in the chorus. You’d have thought that Tina had stolen the part from her, the way she she had acted.

“There’s no such thing as a sure thing, Rachel,” Blaine says, moaning as Kurt rubs his shoulders. The noises coming from him are almost pornographic.

“Knock it off, guys. Do we need to get you a hotel room again?” Sam whines as Artie vaporizes him.

“You won’t hear me complain about that,” Kurt says, giving Sam a wink. “We gave those tourists in Times Square quite the show, didn’t we, baby?”

“Damn right we did!” He wiggles his butt against Kurt’s pelvis and Tina tosses her book at them. “Ow! Damn, Tina!”

“Knock it off. I love you guys and you’re super cute and I’d be lying if I said I’d never thought about it, but cool it.” She and Blaine have the kind of relationship now where they can joke about that sort of things without fear.

Blaine begins to protest but Kurt’s fingers work their way down to his lower back and he’s to distracted to respond. Tina turns her attention to her binder of songs she already knows and skims through it. Page after page of songs she’s either worked on in classes or on her own, all slid neatly into plastic page protectors. Sure, it may be playing it safe to pick a song she already knows but auditions were only a week away and she’d rather do something she is confident will get her through to the dance callbacks and side readings. That’s where she really shines.

“I think I may have it...” she says, looking over the sheet music that is scribbled with notes. It is a fun, playful song that none of the faculty have seen her do so it will be new to them at least. Mercedes and Santana come in the living room to join them all. Cedes perches on the arm of the recliner beside Sam and Santana flops on to the couch with Rachel, throwing her legs over the other girl’s lap. They bring with them a fresh pitcher of drinks and Rachel refills her glass. “And it could work for any of the female characters since I’m still not sure who I’m going for.”

Rachel snorts from the couch and sips at her margarita. “Honestly, Tina, I’m not sure why you are auditioning. It’s an all white cast. And your casting in the winter musical was a fluke.” The room falls silent and even Sam and Artie pause their game to look at Rachel.

“Excuse me?” Tina asks, an eyebrow arched dangerously. She’s been putting up with Rachel’s offhand comments all year but she’s about to reach her limit.

“It was a fluke and you know it. Because you are not as talented as you seem to think you are.”

“Rachel!” Kurt exclaims, crawling off of Blaine’s hips.

“Oh, hell no.”

“Jesus, Berry...” Santana mutters, drawing her legs away from her.

Tina asks in a quiet voice, “That’s what you really think?”

“Yes. Yes, it is.” There is no hint of remorse in Rachel’s voice and she leans forward, elbows on her knees, almost daring Tina to contradict her.

“Then explain to me why I auditioned once and didn’t have to resort to harassment and stalking to get my acceptance,” Tina spits, arms over her chest and glaring back at her. She’s not backing down. She is proud of herself for having been cast in the winter musical and she isn’t about to let Rachel Berry take that away from her.

“I am sure that your audition met NYADA’s high standards,” Rachel replies, her voice full of condescension, “but I’d wager that your admittance had more to do with diversity than your actual talent.”

The room falls silent. No one breathes. No one blinks. But Tina’s face turns purple and she shoots out of the room and into the bedroom she shares with Blaine, the door slamming behind her to loudly that the floor shakes.

Rachel settles back into the couch, flipping to a new page on her iPad as if she hadn’t said anything. They all exchange looks and Mercedes is the first to speak:

“Rachel, you need to leave.”

She sighs, “Mercedes--”

“No. Leave. Now. You aren’t welcome here anymore.” Sam gets up from his seat and opens the door to the hallway. He grabs her jacket from the extra hooks they had put in for their guests and throws it to her. “I want you to leave.”

“I don’t understand why you’re so upset.” She genuinely looks confused and it is clear that she doesn’t think what she just said is offensive.

“Really?” Santana asks, standing up and moving to the corner of the room, as far away from Rachel as she could get. “You don’t understand why we’re all about thirty seconds away from clawing your eyes out? Look around you, Rachel. In this room YOU are the minority. You, the heterosexual, able-bodied, white girl, are the odd man out.”

“Santana--”

Blaine brings himself to his knees, seething with rage. “What about me and Kurt? Did we only get in because we’re gay? Did I only get in because I’m gay and Filipino? What about Artie? Did he only get in to his school because when he was eight he got t-boned by a drunk driver? Tina may not be talented in the way you are but she is kind and humble and dedicated and I’d rather work with someone like her everyday for the rest of my life than put up with your ass for one.”

“That’s mean!” Rachel cries out, tears welling in her eyes. “I was just being honest--”

“Just go home, Rachel. Santana and I are sleeping here tonight.” Kurt takes her glass from her hand and puts it on the coffee table.

“What? Kurt, I--”

“I don’t want to be around you right now. And if I leave you alone with Santana, she may just kill you. So go.” 

“Fine,” she huffs, shoving her iPad into her back that had been at her feet and struggling with her jacket. “You are all overreacting but fine.”

She storms out the open door and Sam kicks it shut behind her. “Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I need a drink.”

\------

“Tina?”

“Go away, Blaine.” Her voice is muffled by her pillow and blankets. She is a burrito of anger and sadness and no one, not even her best friend, will talk her out of it.

Blaine opens the door a crack and see her wrapped up in the zebra striped fleece blanket she keeps for particularly cold nights. “We kicked her out,” he tells her as he comes in and piles the fleece blanket off to reveal a crocheted green and orange afghan. He sighs and pulls that off too. “After she got a piece of our minds, of course.” The final layer is her dark grey comforter which he leaves on as he crawls into bed beside her, pulling her to his chest. She begins to cry the second his arms are around her. “Hey, come on.”

“It’s just-- I’m sick of her. Sick of living in her shadow. Being compared to her. I couldn’t even celebrate being cast in the winter musical because of her antics.” 

“I know, Tay.”

“It’s not fair. I work just as hard as her and when I’m rewarded for my hard work she makes me feel bad. She’s the most entitled person I’ve ever met.” Blaine was actually proud of her. In high school, Tina had held Rachel on a pedestal even though she was always annoyed by how Rachel got everything because she expected it.

“Do you want to call Mike?” he suggests. Mike had come out to visit for Spring Break and he and Tina had reconnected his second night there. They’d spent the rest of the week getting reacquainted in more ways than one and Blaine had a new respect for Tina after having to sleep on the couch a few nights. “Might make you feel better.”

She shook her head. “No, he in rehearsal all day and then he has a date this afternoon.”

“Oh, Lady--”

“It’s fine, Blaine,” she lies. “We agreed that we’d talk more and try to actually be friends.”

Blaine makes a mental note to text Mike later and let him know that if things go sour with them, he’ll be billing him for all the cupcakes he’ll have to buy to coax Tina away from her inevitable sadness.

Come on,” he says, giving her shoulders a squeeze. “Tana went down to the liquor store to get you some booze.”

“I don’t want any--”

“She’s getting that lemon vodka stuff you like. And she did say something about making a pitcher of watermelon margaritas.” 

Tina considers this. She’s the only one that likes watermelon margaritas which means she’ll have the pitcher all to herself. “Okay.”

\--------

The day of the auditions comes and as Tina waits for her turn, she feels like she might vomit all over everything in sight after she sees the time list. They had to submit their songs in advance so the accompanist would be prepared and she had selected ‘I Enjoy Being A Girl’ from The Flower Drum Song. Sure, it was over done, but it was fun and bright and bubbly and she enjoyed singing it. And even if Rachel was right, that her auditioning was a waste of time, she was going to have fun, damnit.

Until she sees Rachel’s name one slot ahead of hers with the same song listed.

It has to be a typo.

There is no way.

Rachel knows she has been working on that song since February and the majority of performance majors know that it is Tina’s song.

But as she sits beside the door to the audition room, she hears the familiar lyrics in Rachel’s perfect soprano voice. Thank God the people in the room don’t applaud when she finishes or Tina would have to break something. Like Rachel’s nose.

The door opens and Rachel slips out, strutting confidently down the hall, ignoring Tina. Her skirt swishes with each step and as she is about to turn, she glances over her shoulder and politely says, “Good luck.”

The other auditioners pay them no mind and Blaine has already gone today so Tina is alone in her mini-panic attack. She isn’t superstitious but there are certain traditions that she respects and that is one of them.

She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes and counting backwards from a hundred. ‘She’s just trying to psych you out,’ she tells herself. ‘Just relax and go in there and be the best you can be.’

“Tina Cohen-Chang?” The stage manager, a plump guy with wire rimmed glasses and long blond hair, stands over her. “You’re up.”

“Yes. Okay. Yes.” She knows she sounds manic. She stands up, smoothing her skirt and straightening her blouse.

He smirks at her. “You’ll be fine, just take a second before you start, okay?”

“Got it.”


	2. Chapter 2

“I GOT A CALLBACK!” Tina screams, almost tossing her phone against the wall in her excitement. She prances down the hall, banging her fist on Mercedes and Sam’s bedroom door. Sam’s muffled voice through the door says something but she’s too excited to care about what they’re doing. Blaine’s out, he and Kurt have an afternoon study date, which is code for having crazy monkey sex while Rachel is in class and Santana is at work. She ran into the living room and jumped on to the couch in celebration. Her callback was only for Sally and for the chorus but she’d take either one. She wouldn’t have cast herself as Sally, but it would be a fun challenge and help improve her range. Her phone beeps with a text from Blaine, saying that he has been called back for Jimmy and the chorus, and she squeals in excitement. Being in a show with her best friend would be ridiculously fun, no matter what it was.

That night, she climbs out on to the fire escape with her afghan and calls Mike. She’s lucky; she’s managed to catch him during a dinner break for a modern dance piece he’s been assigned to so he has a few minutes for her.

“I’m proud of you, Tina,” he says when she tells him and she feels her heart swell two sizes at his words. “You’re so talented, you deserve it. I wish I could have seen your other show.”

She swallows back the lump in her throat. When he says things like that, she has a hard time remembering why they broke up in the first place. Then she remembers and pushes down all those latent feelings that she knows for a fact are not reciprocated anymore. “It was just a featured chorus spot, nothing major. And I might not get anything for this show--” 

“Stop that. You’ll kick ass, I know it.” Some yells in the background. She hears his muffled voice yell back, “Shut it, man, I’m on the phone!” He comes back and his voice is all apologetic. “Sorry, Tina. My buddy is being an ass.”

“It’s okay. And thanks, Mike.” She misses him. She can’t help it. Spring break didn’t help. Why did they have to have a week of no strings attached fun? Because she ached for him and he was familiar and warm and he still knows how to press her buttons in a way that practically makes her climb the wall.

“You don’t need to thank me, Teens. Just relax and be your lovely self and don’t let Rachel get in your head, okay?” 

She chuckles. “Got it.”

“Good.” Another voice calls Mike’s name and she can tell he’s covering the mouth piece of his phone. “Sorry, Tina, but I’ve got to get back to rehearsal. Let me know how everything goes?”

“Definitely,” she replies before he ends the call, wrapping the blanket even tighter around her shoulders. She wishes it was his arms keeping her warm and not this hideous blanket.

\-----------------

Callbacks are at the end of the week and she and Blaine (and Rachel, of course) throw themselves into learning their sides. When Friday rolls around, she and Blaine stay late after their final class to warm up and look over their sides again. It doesn’t make sense for them to go home; as soon as they’d get there they would have to turn around to come back for their time slots. She briefly considered inviting Rachel to practice with them but she decided against it. She’s still pissed and she has no reason to forgive Rachel. 

After going over their sides for the thousandth time together and practicing a few basic steps that the choreographer is sure to have them do just to test their ability, they make their way down to the room where callbacks are being held, sides in hand. The same stage manager is sitting at the check in desk, passing out information sheets to the other people that had early callback times.

“Name?” he asks, flipping through sheets that have already been handed back in to him.

“Blaine Anderson.” Blaine gulps nervously and Tina rubs his back to soothe him. 

The guy looks over a clipboard and checks Blaine’s name off. He hands him a form and gestures to a cup full of cheap pens. “Fill that out and bring it back to me.” He glances up at Tina. “Name?”

“Tina Cohen-Chang.” She shifts from one foot to another, her dance shoes need to be replaced and the left heel is rubbing uncomfortably against her skin.

He looks over the clipboard and slips to a different page, his brow furrowed. “‘Cohen’ spelled ‘C-O-H-E-N’?”

“Yes.” She steadies herself, holding her hand out for a form but he doesn’t hand her one. Instead, he flips through even more sheets before setting his clipboard on the table with a sigh. “Is something wrong?”

He stands up and back away, edging towards the audition room. “Just a second. I need to check something.” He knocks on the door before going in, shutting the door behind him.

“What’s going on?” Blaine asks.

“I don’t know.” She bounces on the balls of her feet, trying to relieve the pain on her heel but it doesn’t work. “Fill out your form. It’s okay.” Blaine shrugs and settles against the far wall, placing his bag at his side to save a spot for Tina. “It’s going to be okay.”

The chubby guy comes out of the room, red-faced and sweaty, his phone gripped tightly in his hand. “So, um... This is incredibly unprofessional and I apologize because it was my fault, but you were sent the callback information and sides by mistake.”

“Excuse me?” Tina’s jaw drops as she tries to process this new information. “How did that happen?”

Uh... Well, there’s a junior dance major named Tanya Crohn that auditioned and-- I’m very sorry. I really am.” He slumps down in his chair, avoiding her gaze. 

She can feel the tears begin to come but she does her best to blink them back. “So, I should just go home then?” 

“Oh, no!” he replies, his eyes jumping up to meet hers. “Since it was my error, the director wants you to stay for choreography and read for Sally since you were sent those sides and would have them prepared.” He hands her the form and goes to join Blaine to hastily fill it out before the choreography session begins.

\---------

Tina wants to cry.

The director hands her a page before she can leave, completely and utterly embarrassed by she performance she just gave. Sally didn’t fit. She had thought that it would be a good exercise for her but she felt ridiculous bouncing in that random guy’s lap and trying to be so overtly but naturally sexy. The result was something the must have looked like a bad porno movie.

“Tina, would you look this over?” he says, tapping the page. “I’d like to see what you do with it.”

She nods, exiting them room and practically throwing herself into Blaine’s lap. Choreography had gone well and since Rachel was in their callback group, she got to see her try to keep up with the rest of them. Dancing never had been Rachel’s strong suit. It isn’t that she can’t dance; it’s just that she won’t follow instructions and adds little touches that only serve to draw focus and enrage the choreographer. Which it did.

“What’s the matter?” Blaine asks, rubbing her back. “Didn’t go well?”

She picks herself up from his lap and pushes her hair out of her face. She will not let this break her. She will not let the other people auditioning see her stumble. She’s better than that. She will be as professional as possible and do what is asked of her. She can feel Rachel’s eyes on her from across the room and won’t give her the satisfaction of knowing how terrible her reading for Sally had gone.    
“I have to read this for them.” She holds up the page and finally looks over it. It’s a Mary scene. “What the...”

“Ooh! I have that scene too!” Blaine says excitedly, holding his page up. “Let’s go over it together.”

More people arrive, people who apparently had earlier callback times and were asked to come back to read again. Tina winds up reading the scene with four different guys, including Blaine. He reads it with two other girls. Rachel, it appears after her initial reading, was given sides for another character but they aren’t sure who. The stage manager dismisses everyone but the four boys that read for Jimmy and the three girls that read for Mary. She and Blaine watch Rachel leave and Blaine sends Kurt a quick text to warn him of the foul mood she’s probably in.

“The director just wants to see you all together. It’ll help him make a final decision,” he explains as they are all ushered back inside.

The director, choreographer, and assistant director stare at the seven of them for a minute, whispering to each other and pointing as subtly as possible. Finally, the director says, “Patrick and Marcus, switch places please.”

A tall thin boy with platinum blond hair to Tina’s right swaps places with the guy she dry-humped during her reading for Sally. She blushes, trying to forget the embarrassing moment.

“Jillian, Tina, swap.” A short, slightly plump, adorable red head steps forward and Tina gives her a smile before taking her place. “No... Tina go back to where you were... Jillian switch with Carly.”

This goes on for a good bit until they’ve seen them next to each person. Every now and then they are asked to do things like skip holding hands or the girls are instructed to jump into the boys arms before they are finally released. She pulls her shoes off the second they are in the holding room, stretching her toes and arches as best she can. She’ll have to ask her mom for money to replace these shoes because there is no way she’ll be able to make them last through the coming semester.

They head home, stopping at Cold Stone as treat for a successful callback in spite of less than desirable circumstances.

\---------

When she turns her phone back on after her History of Theatre lecture it normally buzzes with a few texts from Mercedes, Kurt, or Blaine, maybe one from Santana or Sam. Every now and then it will notify her about a post she was tagged in on Facebook. Today, as she makes her way to the student lounge to check the cast list that should have been put up while she was in her last class, it chimes with a Facebook notification for Mike. She’d never had to heart to turn it off and she normally just ignores it but the words ‘Mike Chang has updated his relationship status’ make her freeze, causing other students to crash into her.

She slides her finger across the screen and Facebook pops up. 

‘Mike Chang is now in a relationship with Grace Yi.’

‘MIKE CHANG IS NOW IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH GRACE YI.’

She walks numbly down the hallway, stumbling over her own normally graceful feet. The usual roar of students laughing and yelling is just a low buzz.

‘Mike Chang is now in a relationship with Grace Yi.’

Her first love is gone. He’s found someone else. She’s never believed that Mike is her true love or even if she believes in that idea at all. But she loves him and a part of her always will. And maybe, she thinks, maybe if he had stayed single a little while longer...

“Tina!” Blaine’s voice snaps her out of her daze. He’s smiling nervously, Kurt by his side and their arms looped around each other’s waists. “Ti--whoa... What’s wrong?”

‘Mike Chang is now in a relationship with Grace Yi.’

“You look like you just saw a ghost,” Kurt says, his voice full of concern.

‘Mike Chang is now in a relationship with Grace Yi.’

“I’m--I’m...” she stutters but the tears begin to fall and she shoves her phone at Blaine and she leans against the wall for support. It feels like Mike just punched her in the chest. Because he did.

‘Mike Chang is now in a relationship with Grace Yi.’

“Oh... Oh, Tina...” Blaine sighs, letting go of Kurt and pulling her into a tight hug. She clings to him, desperate for some kind of contact. “It’ll be okay, hon.”

‘Mike Chang is now in a relationship with Grace Yi.’

She feels Kurt’s tall frame come around her back and hold her as well and she just lets herself cry. She doesn’t care than people can see her or that her face is probably a red, puffy mess. Mike is really and truly gone for her. 

“Come on, let’s go check that list,” Blaine says in her ear, rubbing her shoulder. “Then we’re taking you to Crumbs. Our treat.”

“Absolutely,” Kurt adds. “And I’ll text Tana to get you something to drink. You deserve a drunken night.”

She pulls away from them, sweaty and sniffling. Honestly, she doesn’t care about the cast list. With her luck, she won’t be on it and Rachel will somehow magically get the role of Mary Lane even though she only read for it once. But she knows that Blaine is itching to look at it and by the looks he is getting from people passing by, he’s on it. They start to smile at her too but her tear-stained face must be horrifying to look at.

They each take one of her arms and lead her into the lounge, to the bulletin board decorated with silk pot leaves and a teaser poster for the show. Blaine releases her arm and she leans heavily against Kurt. He runs his finger down the list and stops almost immediately, gasping.

“Well?” Kurt asks, nervously.

“Let Tina look,” Blaine says, drawing her closer to the board.

“Honestly, Blaine, I don’t care. I--” She stops and stares at the list. “That can’t be right.”

“I think it is, Tay Tay,” Blaine says. She can hear the grin on his face.

“There’s no way!” she says, laughing incredulously.

“Oh, my God, will one of you dingbats tell me what is on the damn list?” Kurt asks, all but stomping his foot.

Tina ignores him and reads the cast list again:

REEFER MADNESS  
CAST LIST

The Lecturer-- Tyler Stephens  
Jimmy-- Blaine Anderson  
Mary-- Tina Cohen-Chang  
Jack/Jesus-- Zachary Irwin  
Mae-- Joy Rodriguez  
Ralph-- Marcus Thompson  
Sally-- Kourtney Kramer  
Placard Girl (u/s Mary)-- Jillian Carter  
Ensemble (u/s Mae)-- Stephanie Ambrose  
Ensemble-- Rachel Berry  
Ensemble (u/s Lecturer)-- Gabriel Bolton  
Ensemble (u/s Jimmy)-- Patrick Donnelly  
Ensemble-- Timothy Isaacs  
Ensemble (u/s Jack)-- Daniel Hendricks  
Ensemble (u/s Sally)-- Katrina Nix  
Ensemble (u/s Ralph)-- Will Patterson  
Ensemble-- Ruby Wallace

She rips her phone away from Blaine’s hand and shoves it in her bag. Michael Robert Chang, Jr. doesn’t matter. Not right now. Not when Tina just got the female lead for a show she wasn’t even meant to get a callback for opposite her best friend. She’ll cry later. Right now, she wants to celebrate her said best friend and his boyfriend and forget that her heart is broken and she is no longer speaking to someone that had been a close friend.

“You okay, Tina?” Blaine asks, pulling her into another hug and lifting her off the ground.

“I will be.” He sets her down and kiss her cheek. “And I believe you said something about Crumbs?”


End file.
